CM had announced suspension of Patel, along with a superintendent, deputy superintendent and assistant superintendent of police and the transfer of ADG (Jail) Sushovan Banerjee.

A top officer of the state’s Jail Department confirmed that Patel’s suspension order was issued by the government only on Tuesday.

More than a week after the Bhopal jailbreak, the Madhya Pradesh government finally issued the suspension order of DIG (Jail) M R Patel, who is also the son-in-law of BJP MLA from Jobat, Madho Singh Dawar.

Within hours of the jailbreak, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced suspension of Patel, along with a superintendent, deputy superintendent and assistant superintendent of police and the transfer of ADG (Jail) Sushovan Banerjee.

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While the punitive action against three junior officials and Banerjee, who was senior to Patel, was quickly implemented, the DIG had continued to work and reportedly even visited the premises of the Bhopal Central Jail. A top officer of the state’s Jail Department confirmed that Patel’s suspension order was issued by the government only on Tuesday. “Patel was regularly holding and attending meetings and told me that his suspension had been revoked,’’ one of the suspended officials told The Indian Express.

When contacted Patel admitted that he was attending meetings in the headquarters, but claimed he did not visit the jail premises after the incident.

While Congress accused the BJP government of trying to protect Patel initially, BJP MLA Madho Singh Dawar said he had neither come to Bhopal after the jailbreak nor spoken to the CM about protecting his son-in-law. The MLA questioned the suspension, but said he would wait for the outcome of the inquiry.

Congress spokesperson Ravi Saxena said the government was forced to issue the order after his party raised the matter.